04/13/2024
March 29, 2024
Support Groups Update
During this time, the Multiple Sclerosis
Foundation is here for you.
Keep sending meeting photos
Christy Caudle, leader of the East Texas MS Support Group is very active. She said she emailed every reporter and newsperson she could find and finally Michael Neary of the Lufkin Daily News reached out to her to hear her story. Thank you Christy for telling about MS and the struggles that so many go through.
By Michael Neary / The Lufkin Daily News
For Christy Caudle, a support group can carve out a space to laugh, to find help — and also to find understanding.
Caudle leads the East Texas Multiple Sclerosis Support Group, and Steven Estes, a good friend of Caudle, serves as co-leader. Caudle, Estes and Jennie Freeman founded the group in January 2018.
“It started out as a big group, and the pandemic just about wiped us out,” Estes said. “We used to have about 25 people when we first started as a core group. After the pandemic now, we’ve got about 10 people.”
The group is working to rebuild and to add more members — or at least to let others know there’s a source of support available for people with multiple sclerosis. The group is affiliated with the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation and is listed on the Foundation’s website.
In past years, the East Texas Multiple Sclerosis Support Group held two banquets that included talks about medical treatments by Dr. James Davis from Nacogdoches.
In the coming weeks and months, Caudle said she envisions the group participating in large-scale events such as Walk MS, and she and Estes also noted potential close-to-home activities such as bowling, miniature golf, fishing and bingo. Caudle said the group is also working on a “Honk for MS Awareness” activity.
People interested in learning more about the East Texas Multiple Sclerosis Support Group can visit its page. They can also call Caudle at 936-225-2393 or Estes at 936-635-2734.
Visit the Lufkin Daily News to read the entire story.
